The comps I have been to I dont feel like part of the community as I dont know anyone except my training partners. So for me As far as BJJ community goes in the NON cyber world your community is your club your friends/training partners it will not matter what belt you are or how good you are if you compete or not etc you will be accepted and supported as one of the " team ".

I've often heard politicians and journalists make reference to 'the international community' yet I've never really understood who they mean.

I have also seen posters on various forums such as this refer to 'the BJJ community' and still not really understood who they're referring to? Is a no stripe white belt a part of 'the BJJ community' or is it an altogether more exclusive club?

Do you feel a part of the BJJ community, if so, why? If not, again why?

Cheers

As far as I have seen there is a MASSIVE click within the BJJ community, Most of this stems from the EFN forum you need to be on there belt lists and part of the in crowd, know everyone who posts on there personally and cannot voice your own opinions to be part of there community ( primarily Gracie barra RUN ) I like this forum which swings towards the Carlson linage clubs, It does not seem as clicky and is not as moderated and not so many self opinionated and appointed sheriffs as EFN ( although some jump ship and post here now and then ). JMO.

Um, in what way is EFN 'cliquey'? The only moderating that goes on is moving posts to the correct forum room and deletion of spam. People are allowed to say what they want, even RJD's ridiculous crap doesn't get deleted. There is definitely no bias to any particular team, what a load of nonsense.

I think it may come across as GB bias to some purely because there are simply more GB guys reporting their club/team current affairs. For example, my team in Europe is no longer repping Brazilian Top Team but now we have joined with other teams to form a larger ICON Jiu-Jitsu Team - but because no one from BTT really posts at EFN too much this news has not gotten 1000 views.

GB is a real big team with a lot of members so your gonna get a lot of GB subject matter because you want to rep your team, you cant avoid that.

As far as I have seen there is a MASSIVE click within the BJJ community, Most of this stems from the EFN forum you need to be on there belt lists and part of the in crowd, know everyone who posts on there personally and cannot voice your own opinions to be part of there community ( primarily Gracie barra RUN ) I like this forum which swings towards the Carlson linage clubs, It does not seem as clicky and is not as moderated and not so many self opinionated and appointed sheriffs as EFN ( although some jump ship and post here now and then ). JMO.

you created a new account specifically to say that?

man, when you're the nail, hang in there....until the day you become the hammer

I think we all get different things out of bjj. These days i just go in to train and go back home. I remember when i went to my first open mat i was like ok lets do arm bar drills but in reality alot of people would just get changed and sit there on the side line having a nat. I think they should name open mat 'open mouth'

As far as I have seen there is a MASSIVE click within the BJJ community, Most of this stems from the EFN forum you need to be on there belt lists and part of the in crowd, know everyone who posts on there personally and cannot voice your own opinions to be part of there community ( primarily Gracie barra RUN ) I like this forum which swings towards the Carlson linage clubs, It does not seem as clicky and is not as moderated and not so many self opinionated and appointed sheriffs as EFN ( although some jump ship and post here now and then ). JMO.

With regards to competitions being cliquey, the following are comments from The Hereford Open (run by a Gracie Barra team).

Lee B (Alliance UK) 'This was our first event and we all had a great time, was good to meet some of the other uk bjj guys and me and the team will certainly be back.
Thanks Dave for a great day and congratulations to all the competitors.'

Mark P (Gracie Barra Mansfield) 'it was the first BJJ comp for our guys and they all really enjoyed it. A nice friendly atmosphere from everybody there, and was also nice to see the coaches from the opponents coming over and congratulating each others fighters no matter what the outcome of the fight and passing on compliments.'

Mark (Renegades Jiu Jitsu) 'Thankyou for running a great comp, although i didnt win a medal i had a great day. The atmosphere was relaxed and well organized. This was my first comp and i will be returning in febuary!'

Pete O'Shea (Carlson Gracie BJJ Revolution Team) 'It was a fantastic competition so well organised and really friendly. I made lots of new friends on the day and the atmosphere was superb. A great expierience and I look forward to coming back in February. Thanks again for a superb day out.'

I do find EFN can occasionally be a little cliquey. I don't think it has anything to do with the Mod's, just the way the forum has evolved and the demographic of the bulk of posters. I think it can be difficult when you are heavily involved in the sport to remember what it was like starting out. In particular I have noticed an increase in the number of "smart" comments towards new guys and/or guys who disagree with the prevailing thought, particularly from people who have asked the same questions themselves back in the SFUK days. That said, the very nature of common interest forums means they are inherently cliquey. I do find EFN is a very valuable resource, particularly for competition planning but also for articles, links etc.

I lean towards the cagewarriors forum as I prefer the layout, find it tends to have a little more diverse opinion, and seems a little more light hearted. As I mentioned though, I think both are useful. Also the vast bulk of regular posters here post on both anyway.